At the beginning of the summer I found out about a “color run” that was going to be held the first week of August. This was awesome timing. Kyle, Bradley, Georgia and Megan would be able to run it with Kristin, Kasey, Hope and I. But then they changed the date!

Kyle, Bradley, Megan and Georgia could no longer run it with us. So now we have 4 extra tickets. We called up some friends and soon had the Torney family running with us.So what is a “color run”. Simply put people throw dye packets at you while your waiting to start the run and during the 5K run.

After putting on our new white shirts we headed to the event and proceeded to experience our first “color run”. You get messy. It gets in your hair, your nose, your mouth, even in your ears! What’s the fun part? You glow. Yes, you glow at night!

There was a storm blowing in as we were running the race and shortly after finishing it a full blown thunderstorm was upon us. We raced to the car, quickly changed shirts. Yes, I planned for us to be messy and had t-shirts waiting for everyone to change into. This proved out to be a VERY wise move. Even with changing the inside of the car took a very messy hit.

Despite the mess it was definitely worth it. A lot of fun and I can’t wait to run it again.

Kasey was promoted to the training team at her gymnastics gym. Her skills are definitely improving quickly.

These pictures were taken at the end of hear exhibition that they gym held for her class. Next year she is getting promoted to the competition team. Many more meets are in her future. Look for a lot more pictures of her next year.

Kristin’s year of studying and deep analysis of the Bible and her beliefs were rewarded with her being confirmed at the Second Congregational Church of Winsted.

For most of the year while Kristin feverishly tried to complete her homework assignments right before her class, we would have great conversations about the specific topic they were studying and different ways of looking at it.

It has been wonderful watching her challenge as and reinforce her beliefs.

Nicole and her friend Conor, Hope and I spent a cold and wet day in New York city. We started the day at the 9/11 museum. It is massive and gives you a view of the foundation of the twin towers. The twisted metal gives a sobering reality to the massive devastation that was caused. The creators of the museum did a great job taking through the events of the day. We all went through a range of emotions from awe to sadness.

Next we made our way to Times Square. We trouped through rain and snow while the wind whipped down the street. We dived into stores and warmed up at the Hard Rock Café while eating lunch then we headed to the main reason we came the city. Too see the preview of the new musical “Finding Neverland”.

It is a fantastic musical! We all really enjoyed it and highly recommend it. The storyline had multiple plots weaving in and out of the story. Characters were engaging. The music is awesome.

Our tradition is to make broccoli pies and color eggs on Good Friday. Georgia and Hope are the pie makers. The picture of them with some of their finished pies with glasses of wine on the counter makes me think of Hoda an Kathy Lee.

A few weeks earlier Chris, Georgia, Hope and I were talking about Easter traditions and Chris and Hope started talking about a bunny cake that Ma used to make. I am not sure how but I ended up with the task to make the cake. After a few texts and a quick phone call to Ma, I had all I needed to try to revive the bunny cake tradition.

Kristin, Kasey and I set off on our mission to make the legendary bunny cake. Chocolate cake, white frosting, coconut flake, licorice, jellybeans and our personal touch of M&M’s (placed with all the writing is facing down) and a few hours of labor and our work of art was complete. While it tasted good and we had fun, next year someone else gets the honor of making the bunny cake!

We celebrated Bradley’s and Kyle’s birthdays in early April. Kyle was very much not in the mood to search for his presents but he finally had some success and started to pick up speed.

Bradley was sent all over the house and enjoyed the hunt for his presents much more than Kyle did.

Kyle’s present was a trip to Broadway to see The Phantom of the Opera. The smile on his face afterward says it all. We had seats in the second row right in the center of the theater. The chandelier came down right over our heads! After I asked Kyle what he thought. His answer is what everyone who as ever given a gift wants to hear, “It was awesome”.

For Kristin’s and Bradley’s 16th birthday we had Gramma Sue plan an amazing race style of game. It was guys vs. gals. Bradley, Kyle, Corey, Nick and I vs. Kristin, Hope, Georgia, Abby, Megan, and Kasey. I’ll cut to the chase and tell you the girls won and our appeal was rejected. Apparently you needed to do EXACTLY what was on the card of instructions. Who would have guessed?

Our amazing race ended at the Gilson dinner/movie theater where we had a private screening of the winner’s favorite movie. Kristin chose Guardians of the Galaxy.

It was a great time. A huge THANK YOU to Gramma Sue for her amazing amazing race!

Ron continues to get us all outside and active... one of his ways was he signed us all up for a 5k race call "Grit 'n Wit". He ended up convincing myself, Georgia, Corey, Abby, Nick, Megan & Kristin to try it out. Ron scheduled several workout days leading up to that so we didn't completely embarrass ourselves. (more for the adults than the kids) It is a 3.61 mile race with a variety of obstacle courses & puzzles to solve along the way.

On the day of the race, we realized that Corey wasn't going due to him working so we needed one more to fill in. As we were on our way to the race, Georgia calls Gramma Sue and tells her that we are picking her up and she is going to go through the race with us. Amazingly enough, she actually went with us and did a great job!! I think its safe to say that everyone had a great time and really gave it their all throughout the course!!

We celebrated Kristin’s birthday by lighting another bomb fire on a cake. Yes, the bomb-fires on top of cakes is going to get out of hand sooner or later. Luckily for Kristin it will be much later.

It is a tradition in our house to make the person receiving a gift search for clues that ultimately lead them to where their present is hidden. The last picture was Kristin’s final clue. Can you guess where her present is?

It has been a cold snowy winter in the north. We tried to make the best of it with outdoor activities and a lot more activities inside!

Early in January we took Kristin and Kasey to the Connecticut State House. It was a pretty interesting self-tour. We saw where both houses of the government meet as well as a brief walk past the governor’s office. The building is very pretty with many interesting statues adorning the halls.

Kit and Kat love lying in front of the fire. It is hard to believe that they will be a year old in March. I am still amazed at how much they tolerate the kids picking them up and carrying them around. Kit is feisty and loves a good wrestling. Kat is very much the princess who expects to be paid homage too.

The bomb fire cake was set ablaze in honor of Georgia’s birthday. See if you can count the candles to find out how old she is!

Kyle had his Michigan Honors Choir performance in January. He and I went to Grand Rapids, MI for the day while he had rehearsals during the day and the performance in the evening. I continue to be blown away by Kyle’s singing!

Nicole, Bradley, Kyle and I enjoyed the cold and snow at a winter festival in Michigan. They had a really cool sledding track that was setup by the firemen spraying water down a hill in the center of a small town. After grabbing a tube and trekking up the hill they sent you down. It was quite the ride. The ice sculptures were very impressive but the best thing was stopping at a warm restaurant and having a hot dinner. Even though I am a summer guy who enjoys summer sports and festivals more than winter sports and festivals I really enjoyed the winter festival.

Bradley and I dragged Kyle to the International Auto Show. This is our 4th in a row. Kyle acts like he is not interested but then wants the camera to take pictures. We all enjoyed trying out the tilt-whirl chairs. I was smart enough to not have my turn in the chair on camera!

The Utterbeck boys broke the sledding curse this year. Last year I dislocated my elbow, previous years I have broken my tailbone and Bradley has ended up with a concussion but this year we managed to have zero injuries while sledding!!! The snow was very deep and more was falling as we zoomed down the hill.

Competition season arrived for cheer, gymnastics and robotics. Abby is the flyer being thrown around. Megan is the gymnast on the beam. Kristin competed in her first robotics event after weeks of building it with her team.

It has been a very busy couple of months. We are all looking forward to the temperatures warming, the snow melting and spring springing!